Satellite Communications

Pentagon looking to make sure SpaceX doesn’t abandon them in war

Spooked by the company’s new limits in Ukraine, military leaders are mulling new types of contracts.

  • By Patrick Tucker

DISA, GSA round out SATCOM business model

The agencies award a $2.6 billion contract as part of the Future Commercial Satellite Communications Services Acquisition program.

  • By Matthew Weigelt

Can science and technology defeat Colombian drug cartels?

U.S. Southern Command is looking to DOD's science and technology communities to help in counter-narcotics operations in the jungles of South America.

  • By Amber Corrin

DOD urges relaxed satellite controls

Momentum for satellite export reform is stalled by the complex and technical nature of the issue.

  • By FCW Staff

A nation at war after 9/11: From experiment to experience

John Sklinar, a senior manager in an elite Army communications division, recalls how he got a new job the day the airplanes hit the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

  • By Matthew Weigelt

Feds conflicted over cell phone tracking

The Justice Department is looking at smart phone tracking as a tool to solve crimes. Some lawmakers say tracking presents problems with consumer privacy.

  • By Alysha Sideman

SETI stops listening for alien signals

The radio telescope array that was scanning the skies for signals from alien civilizations has stopped listening.

  • By Michael Hardy

Broadband plan debate: federal bureaucracy or local initiative?

From reforming the Universal Service Fund to determining how grants are allocated, headaches remain for agencies in starting the National Broadband Plan.

  • By Dan Rowinski

Space policy sets rules for the final frontier

The new National Security Space Strategy outlines how the U.S. government will manage its space industrial base, defend its space assets and share space-based resources with allies.

  • By Henry Kenyon

In Egypt, the revolution will be tweeted

Advancements in communication technology have often foreshadowed civil unrest and revolution. In Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East, the revolution is indeed being tweeted.

  • By Dan Rowinski

Satellites come to the rescue when ground systems fail

Responders in disaster areas are relying on mobile satellite connections more frequently for IP data connections than for voice.

  • By William Jackson

GAO debuts new online report technology

GAO is piloting a new online E-Report to accompany its familiar PDF products with the release of a study on slippages in NOAA's next-generation weather satellite program.

  • By William Jackson

Flexibility drives new Pentagon satellite plans

The military's new Wideband Global SATCOM program is a case study in balancing the need for speed with investment protection.

  • By Barry Rosenberg

DARPA plans a network of virtual satellites

DARPA revises its program to launch clusters of small, wirelessly connected mini satellites.

  • By Henry Kenyon
Featured eBooks

Jim Carver: Getting it done in Iraq and Afghanistan

The former gunslinger is using the Movement Tracking System to coordinate logistics on the ground in Southwest Asia — and save lives.

  • By Amber Corrin

NASA could get funds for solar-storm warning system

Congress is considering legislation that would provide funding for NASA to better predict solar storms, which can interfere with electronic communications on Earth.

  • By Henry Kenyon

iPhones, commercial satellites prominent in joint DOD exercise

The Defense Department interoperability exercise stresses flexible networking and new uses for existing technology.

  • By Henry Kenyon

Eye in the sky: NOAA satellite program aids oil spill response

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's satellite organization has a test imagery program that's getting some real use in fighting the oil spill in the Gulf.

  • By Ben Bain

In the digital age, satellites are closing in on the crown

SatCom 2010 explores the most impressive discussions and new trends related to the military field.

  • By Amber Corrin

The new age of satellite

Satellites' famous resiliency is being joined by a steadily brightening price and performance story that might surprise those who haven’t been following the industry lately.

  • By John Zyskowski

DOD's reliance on commercial satellites hits new zenith

The military's ad hoc reliance on commercial satellites is prolonging efforts to meet warfighters' urgent demands for bandwidth.

  • By Barry Rosenberg